


The Longing of the Innocents

by Fujiwara_no_Seimei



Category: Ookiku Furikabutte
Genre: Brotherhood, Comfort, Gen, M/M
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2010-08-07
Updated: 2010-08-07
Packaged: 2017-10-10 23:37:33
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 2,627
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/105695
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Fujiwara_no_Seimei/pseuds/Fujiwara_no_Seimei
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>His big brother is just the person Shun needs to help him through this, though he didn't know it until just now.</p>
            </blockquote>





	The Longing of the Innocents

**Author's Note:**

> I've used given and family names here a little oddly, and at times inconsistently, but wanted to write them in a way that felt natural to read. So Takaya is often "Abe," as we know him, while Shun is consistently referred to by his given name.
> 
> Post Bijou-game spoilers.

"T...T...Tajima-kun?"  
"Eh?" Tajima replied into the phone.  The voice on the other end was not one he recognized.  On top of that, it sounded younger than anyone he thought he knew.

"Um...it's Abe..." the voice continued to stutter.  
"Abe?  What _happened_ to you?" he said, for some reason (appearing to be) taking the identification at face value.  
"-Shun.  It's Abe Shun." Suddenly the sound was muffled, but Tajima could hear, faintly, "Shut _UP_, Takaya, don't laugh at me!"

Tajima paused himself for a moment, not that it was something he did often, at the notion that Shun sounded so flustered.  When he'd met the boy two weeks ago, he'd obviously admired Tajima highly, but held himself together well enough.  He unpaused.

"Shun-chan!" He beamed into the phone with an audible grin.  
"...c...chan?" he stammered.  
"What do you need, Shun-chan?" Tajima went on.  "Does Ab- uh, your brother need something?"  
Shun was quiet for a second, as if disappointed in something.  Tajima furrowed his brow and leaned against the wall.  
"I...have a request, Tajima-kun," he said, finally.  
"What is it?"  
"I... know you're probably busy and all, but... I was wondering... if we could hang out sometime.  Like.  When you visited Takaya?  And you showed me your swings.  I..." he trailed, pausing for a second before regrouping his thoughts.  "I'm sorry.  It's kind of selfish, but..."  
"Selfish?  You want to train together?"  
"Wh- y...yes!  I...would like to, a lot!"  
"Ah, I guess so.  What do you want to do, go to a batting park?"  
There was a quiet noise on the other end, maybe a hiss, maybe a squeak, Tajima couldn't tell.  
"Yes!" Shun replied, a little too enthusiastically.  
"Okay.  This week?"  
"Ye...yeah.  That would be good.  Is there a good time for you, Tajima-kun?"  
"Ehhhhh....hmm," Tajima hummed, disappointed that he had to use his brain all of a sudden.  "Um...tomorrow night...I think practice ends early.  At like 6.  We can go to the Shinoomiya cages."  
"That would be great!"  
Tajima found himself get a little excited at Shun's unbridled enthusiasm. "Can you meet me at the Nishiura field at that time?"  
"O...of course! Definitely."  
"Then I'll see you then," Tajima said. "Bye."

"B...bye!" Shun shouted, and hung up the phone with unnecessary force.  Abe leaned over from his seat in the guest room to peer over at his little brother.

"Yyyyyeesssssssssssss!" Shun shouted, jerking his fists back in celebration.  
"Sounds like that went well," Abe said.  
"What's that?" Their father asked, passing through the room.  
"Shun's got a crush on our clean-up hitter."  
Shun blanched, and his hands unclenched from their victory-fists.

"I. Do. NOT!" he screeched.  
Abe chuckled sadistically.  
"Don't tease him like that," his father scolded gently.  
Shun huffed and ran up to his room.  

Stupid Takaya.  
It was so like his brother to ruin his happiest moments like that.

He had no idea what this was like.

o-o-o-o-o-o

"Coach?  Can I skip the ball gathering tonight?" Tajima asked, hands clasped together.  
"What? Why?" Momokan asked, hands on her hips.

"Tajima has a _date_," Abe said, pushing down on Mihashi's shoulders as he stretched.  
"A _what_?" Hanai and Izumi said simultaneously, carrying a crate of balls between them into the dugout.

"I do not! I do have to meet someone th-"  
"It's okay!" came a distant, chirping voice.  
Everyone turned to see Shun at the gate, his fingers entwined with the fencing, face bright and beaming.   
"I can wait!"  
Tajima's teammates, save Abe, gave Tajima a suspicious glare. Abe was armed with a grin.  
"I'm not-" he began, but Momoe grabbed his head, turning him toward the field forcefully.  
"GO," she bellowed, shoving him towards where the other infielders were gathering the balls.

After he was successfully out in the field, Momoe turned to Shun.  
"You can wait in here, don't be shy," she called.

Shy was exactly what he was being, though, and at the invitation, he looked to either side of him, though he wasn't entirely sure for what.  He bowed and walked through the gate, breaking into a jog to the dugout.

"Who is this kid?" Izumi asked, looking him up and down as he dusted off his hands.  
"C...can't you tell?" Mihashi asked from his little corner where he was being frisked by Abe.  
Shun stood frozen, submitting himself nobly to scrutiny as Izumi, and now Hanai, looked him over.  Suddenly piecing his appearance together with Abe's outspokenness regarding Tajima's personal life, they both cooed together "Chibi Abe-kun!"

Shun was not sure what conclusion he'd hoped they'd draw, but this didn't seem to be it.

"Ah!  He does look like Abe!  Only smaller and less grumpy."  
"I'm not grumpy!" Abe shouted.  
"Abe-kun's not grumpy," Mihashi echoed quietly.

He'd been doing that a lot lately, so everyone in the dugout took a second for a creeped-out moment of silence before resuming their gushing over the tiny, pleasant version of Abe.

"What are you doing with Tajima?" Hanai asked politely.  
"Ah...we're...going to bat... together," Shun answered, unaware that he was drawing little lines in the dirt with the toe of his shoe.  
"Training?" Izumi asked, pulling off his shirt after he'd said it. "Don't hang out with him too much, he's a bad influence."  
Hanai chuckled.  "Good for you," he said, "have fun." He turned to Momoe.  "Coach?"

"You and Izumi can go.  Good job today.  _Abe!_ Mihashi has stretched enough, get off of him already."  
"Tsh," Abe said.

For a moment, Shun had a strange thought regarding his brother, then shook it out of his head once deemed implausible.  Momoe turned away, and Shun leaned on the bench, relaxing a tiny bit now that he was out of the spotlight.

Mihashi walked over to the bench.  "Is...Shun...well?" Mihashi asked, quietly.  
"Ah, yes.  Thank you, umm..."  
"It's _Mihashi_," Abe said, slamming his hand against the bench.  
"Abe-kun!" Mihashi yelped.  
The two exchanged glances, Abe's rough and Mihashi's nervous, before both looking back at Shun.  
Had his big brother just been _scolded_?

He revisited that implausible idea from a moment ago, for just a moment, before Abe's piercing glare made it flee for its life.

"Shun-chan!" came an unmistakable voice.  
"Tajima-kun!" He replied.  
"No more balls!" he chirped, beaming as he set the crate down under a shelf.

"Alright, get out of here," Momoe sighed, waving her hand.  
"Ah! I've got to change," Tajima said.  Will you wait for me by the bikes?  
Shun nodded, watching Tajima pull his shirt over his head as he headed towards the changing room.

"You're staring," Abe murmured sadistically into Shun's ear.  
"A...am not!" he cried, and then took off towards the gate in a huff.

"Go _home_," Momoe groaned, smacking the battery behind their heads. They flinched, and then obeyed.

"You shouldn't...tease him...like that," Mihashi said as they walked off.  
"I know," Abe said.  "But better by me."  
Mihashi nodded, with a tinge of sadness, knowing full what Abe had meant.  

Hopefully, Shun wouldn't have to ever learn.

"I want my leg to be better," Abe said, as if to no one in particular.  
"Me too," Mihashi replied.

o-o-o-o-o-o

Shun's eyes were bright.  
And because Tajima had no filter between his thoughts and his mouth, he said so.

"They...are?" Shun said, cheeks turning pink.  
But Tajima had already moved on. "Watch carefully," he said.  
A ball came sailing at him, and he cracked at it.  Shun watched his form carefully, though it would be a lie to say he wasn't a little distracted.  
"Again," Tajima said, and when he laid into the next ball, Shun's vision was suddenly playing in slow motion.  He watched Tajima's arm muscles ripple on impact, and little beads of sweat fly off of his arms in time with the ball's ricochet.

"You really went under that one," Shun said, too quietly.

"You look tired," Tajima said, swiping his brow with his sleeve. He looked up at the clock behind the cage.  It was nearly nine, and getting dark.   
Tajima grinned. "Is it past your bedtime?"

Suddenly Shun jerked out of his trance of admiration and frowned.  
"Wha- what?  Did I say something wrong?"  
"Uh...no," Shun said, gathering up his bat and putting his cap back on his head. "But it is getting late, huh?"  
"Yeah," Tajima said, suddenly uneasy.  

It was a pretty well known fact, if not more of a solved mystery to most, that Tajima only appeared simple on the surface.  When push came to shove, he was the Most Observant Person in the Universe, and not only was he an expert observer, he kept his observations tucked away until he had the perfect opportunity to use them.  He came off as having flashes of brilliance behind a facade of childishness, but to those who knew him well, they understood that it was calculated.

So Tajima made it a point to have a deep understanding of the things around him.  He knew that Hanai had a competition complex with him, so when it got out of hand, he reminded the captain that he was still taller.  He knew Mihashi never shook his head at Abe until the Bijou game, and he knew that it was on Abe's order.  He knew that Shino'oka had a crush on Abe.  

So he was perplexed to not know why Shun acted the way he did.  Why he fluttered between determination and bashfulness.  Between focus and distraction.  Between stubbornness and sudden, extreme sensitivity.

He was sure that whatever it was, it had to do with growing up with a messed-up brother like Abe.

As they gathered their bags and left, Tajima could tell that Shun was dwelling on something that upset him.  But he did know, in his finite wisdom, that he would be out with it soon enough without external prodding.

Sure enough, when they got on the train, sitting in quiet corner of a mostly-empty car, Shun spoke.  
"What...does Tajima-kun think of me?" He asked, nervously.  
Tajima blinked.  He knew not to take too long to decide how to answer.  
"I think Shun is a good hitter.  And I think you'd be a good pitcher, too."  
Shun gulped. "What...about me...besides...baseball?"  
Tajima caught his breath.

Suddenly he knew what this was about, and knew that it needed to be derailed immediately.

"Cute."  
Shun looked up at him, slightly incredulous.  
"C...cute?"  
Tajima nodded. "Shun-chan is really adorable.  I'm the youngest, and I always wished for a cute little brother."  
"_Little brother_...?" Shun echoed, horrified.  
"Yeah," Tajima said, but not without a little compassion on the tip of the word. "I like you..._just_...like a little brother."

It was lucky for them that the ride was short. No sooner had Tajima reiterated his feelings than the train began to slow at Shun's stop.  
"T...thank you for today," he said shakily, eyes averted.  Tajima could hear in his voice why he'd turned away.  
"Sure," Tajima said.  
Shun stood up, and when the train came to a stop, he bolted out of the car and ran until he was far enough away to cry in peace.

o-o-o-o-o-o

Shun was still sniffling a little when he got home.  The house was dark, which was a relief.  But that relief was short lived.  
"Little brother?" Abe's voice inquired from the sitting room.  He had no way of knowing that his choice of words were the worst possible.  
Shun choked on a sob, and, unable to run to his room like he desperately wanted to, he shuffled quietly to the sitting room.

"Sit down," Abe said.    
Shun shook his head into his arm, hiccuping.  
"_Sit down_," he repeated. "It's okay.  We need to talk."  
"I don't want to talk," Shun mumbled stubbornly.  
"Yes you do.  You just don't want to talk to me."  But Shun was kneeling down next to his brother anyway, and Abe added, "but I'm all you've got right now."  
Shun nodded, and scooted over to lean against his brother.  Abe waited for Shun's crying to quiet before he spoke.

"I guess he turned you down," Abe said, sympathetically.  
Shun hiccuped again.  
"Let it out," Abe said.  "You can't cry at school, so do it now."  
"How did you-" Shun bleated through his tears.  
Abe ran a hand over Shun's back. "Because I know.  Because I've been there."  
"Y...you...?  You couldn't!" Shun said, seeing Abe's empathy as some kind of indignity.  
"I could.  I did.  And I didn't get let down nearly as quickly and painlessly as you did."  
Shun just stared, and after a beat, Abe reached over for a tissue and wiped Shun's cheeks.  
"I was your age, too," he said, in a light, distant tone that suggested he was summoning the memory right then.  "And I was stupid to have a crush on someone so dense."  
"Who...?" Shun said.  
"Haruna-san," he replied.  "You might not remember him.  I don't think you ever met him.  I was his catcher in middle school."  
"What...happened?" Shun asked.  
"I admired him for a long time, but he was really dense.  He was really affectionate, after a while, and that got my hopes up, somehow.  And then..."  
Shun held his breath.  
"Then he started teasing me.  Saying things like _Oh, Takaya has a crush on me!_ and _Oh, Takaya, don't stare, I get embarassed!_  and..."  
Shun frowned.  
"...and _Oh, Takaya, I bet you wish this was a date, don't you?_"  
Shun leaned over and rested his head on his big brother's lap.  Abe brushed the hair behind his brother's ear with his fingers.  
"He didn't know that I really had feelings for him.  He didn't know that he was being hurtful." Abe paused.

"He never did."

Shun suddenly became quiet and still.   
"D...does this mean I'm... gay... big brother?"   
When the words escaped his lips, he cheeks flushed hard and hot.  He was afraid this question would out him as some kind of pervert.  Some kind of deviant.

Abe shook his head, patting Shun's gently.  
"Not at all, Shun.  People get crushes on others they admire as kids.  Your heart doesn't know the difference between boys and girls when it comes to that."  
"A...ah," Shun said, relieved.  
"-though I guess I wouldn't have minded the company," Abe said, offhandedly.

_What?_

"What?" Shun said aloud.  
Abe sighed.  
"I saw you thinking it.  In the dugout.  When Mihashi scolded me."  
"You..."  
"_Yes_," Abe said, exasperated with his own decision to confess.  
"With..._Mihashi-kun_?"  
"Yes, with _Mihashi-kun_."

"Does mom know?"  
Abe blinked.  
"Mom?  Of course not.  You think I would just go up to her and tell her something like that?"  
"Ah, I...guess not.  But...you..."

_Told me_, was what Shun wanted to say, but the words didn't come out.  They didn't need to.

"You're the only one who knows, okay?" Abe said.  "So don't tell anyone."

Suddenly Shun felt something well up inside him.  It wasn't the feeling of rejection that made him cry moments ago.  It was something lighter, though somehow more intense.  Tears began flowing again.

Abe pulled Shun into a one armed hug.  This time, Shun's cries were silent.  

Abe let him sit there, tears soaking into his shirt, until he had become still.  It was then that Abe nudged the drowsy boy up, and the two went to bed.

Shun slept peacefully that night, which he found strange, when he thought about it in the morning. He'd anticipated that he'd cry all night after Tajima's pointed dismissal.  

But he woke up feeling more fulfilled than the day before.  Like he had a new confidant.  A new ally.

A new friend.

And to make matters better, Takaya didn't even try to steal his eggs.  
 


End file.
